U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 290 Broadway, 20th Floor New York, New York 10007-1866

The deadline is TODAY.

JUST DO IT.

CORD

**Here is a letter to the EPA from a life long resident of Carroll Gardens and a CORD Co-Founder to the EPA Rita Miller:

"My name is Rita Miller. I am a third generation lifelong Carroll
gardens resident and property owner living just a couple of blocks away
from the Gowanus Canal.

I have served on the CAG since its
inception representing CoRD, an organization I co-founded several years
ago. I am also a member of FROGG, the larger South Brooklyn Coalition
and the 2nd Place Community Transit Garden.

Other than the two
residential properties I own on Second Place, I have no other holdings
or business dealings in the community. I am, however very interested in
the fate and future of the Canal.

It is with a confident and enthusiastic heart that I offer my full
support to your Proposed Plan. I totally approve of the Plan which
accomplishes the goals we set together from the start--

---a clean
and capped Canal bottom, a halt to toxic compound seepage into the
water from the surrounding uplands and a solution that addresses, at their source,
future chemical recontamination via the CSOs with a bonus for us to
boot--since the proposed retention tank solution will alleviate the now
constant unhealthy pathogen laden pollution of the canal as well.

Those
tanks are the key to satisfying the community's and the CAG's well
documented longing for the elimination of CSO discharges. And the
proposed locations couldn't possibly be more thoughtful or logical.

I understand the need to disrupt some of the amenities offered
currently at the MPG site location at Thomas Greene Park in order to
accomplish the necessary upland and water remediation. I do not view
this as "losing a park", as some have claimed. Instead, I see this as a
positive and much needed cleanup of an unhealthy and unsafe area which
unbelievably just happens to be used for recreation at the moment.

I have confidence that we, as a community, can work with EPA,
NYS, NYC and National Grid to come up with first a temporary replacement
and a more permanent solution later on, for the pool and whatever other
amenities are necessary while the toxins are removed and the site's
problems properly addressed.

As a parent myself, I find the complete and total remediation of
this recreational area an absolute necessity--anything short of that--a
fruitless waste of time and money. Frankly, I cannot
understand anyone taking a different position. What parent is happy
knowing that their child is playing somewhere that is unfit, unsafe and
unhealthy? What parent would advocate keeping that when the alternative
is something so much better?

In regard to the CDF proposal, my understanding is that this one
particular piece of the Proposed Plan will, as it should, be entirely up
to the Red Hook Community.

In closing, I want to say that as both a CAG and individual
community member I have found our EPA Region 2 team to be top notch in
every way. I want to thank you for that.

So, you go Region 2--- I eagerly await the Record of Decision
and look forward to the Remedial Design phase. This has been the most
wonderful thing that has ever happened to our community and I want
to see it through to the end. Thank you again. Let's keep moving
forward!"

CORD HISTORY:

With the "Protect Our Homes" petition, CORD was formed in May, 2007. This petition arose as an overwhelmingly negative response to the coming of the over-sized 360 Smith Street Development at the corner of Smith Street and Second Place (Aka Oliver House; aka 131 Second Place). This petition, which had well over three thousand signatures, led to a new zoning text amendment in summer of 2008.

To: Our Elected Officials, Community Leaders, The MTA:(MAY, 2007)

We the undersigned Carroll Gardens homeowners and residents, are appalled by the "as of right" ruling which allows owners and developers to erect buildings in our neighborhood with no regard to the impact they will present to our quality of life and the value of our homes........http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?crlgrdns